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Pfizer Works

Pfizer implemented a program called PfizerWorks that allows employees to outsource tedious tasks like creating documents and presentations to third-party vendors in India with the click of a button. Internal studies found that on average, Pfizer employees spent 20-40% of their time on support work and only 60-80% on knowledge work. The program is estimated to have saved over 66,500 work hours by allowing employees to pass off mundane tasks. One executive reported that an outsourced team completed a complex project in one month that would have taken him six months alone. While helping boost productivity, questions remain on the structural implications of increased outsourcing and whether the approach would benefit all organizations.

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321 views2 pages

Pfizer Works

Pfizer implemented a program called PfizerWorks that allows employees to outsource tedious tasks like creating documents and presentations to third-party vendors in India with the click of a button. Internal studies found that on average, Pfizer employees spent 20-40% of their time on support work and only 60-80% on knowledge work. The program is estimated to have saved over 66,500 work hours by allowing employees to pass off mundane tasks. One executive reported that an outsourced team completed a complex project in one month that would have taken him six months alone. While helping boost productivity, questions remain on the structural implications of increased outsourcing and whether the approach would benefit all organizations.

Uploaded by

BISMA RAFIQ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Question no 1 (8 marks

PFIZER WORKS – Enhancing manager productivity OR added layers of cost

Admit it or not. Sometimes the projects you are working on can get pretty boring
and monotonous. Wouldn’t it be a great to have a magic button you could push to
get someone else to do that boring time-consuming stuff? At Pfizer, that “magic
button” is a reality for large number of employees. As a global pharmaceutical
company, Pfizer is continually looking for ways to help employees to be more
efficient and effective. The company’s senior director of organizational
effectiveness found that the “Harvard MBA staff we hired to develop strategies
and innovative were instead Googling and making PowerPoint”. Indeed, internal
studies conducted to find out just how much time its valuable talent was spending
on menial tasks was startling. The average Pfizer employee was spending 20% to
40% of his/her time on support work (creating documents, typing notes, doing
research, manipulating data, scheduling meetings) and only 60% to 80% on
knowledge work (strategy, innovation, networking, collaborating. Critical
thinking). Alarmingly, problem wasn’t just at the lower levels. Even the highest
level employees were affected. Take for instance, David Cain, an executive officer
for global engineering. He enjoys his job - assessing environmental real estate
risks, managing facilities, and controlling a multi-million-dollar budget. But he
didn’t enjoy having to go through spreadsheets and put together PowerPoint.
Now however, with Pfizer’s ‘magic button”, those tasks are passed off to
individuals outside the organization. Just what is this “magic button”?

Originally called the Office of the Future (OOF), the renamed PFIZERWORKS allows
employees to shift tedious and time-consuming tasks with the click of a single
button on their computer desk top. They describe what they need on an online
form, which is then sent to one of the two Indian service outsourcing firms. When
a request is received a team member in India calls the concerned Pfizer employee
to clarify what’s needed and by when? The team member then e-mails back a
cost specification for the requested work. If the Pfizer employee decides to
proceed, the costs involved are charged to the employee’s department. About
this unique arrangement. Cain said that he relishes working with what he prefers
to call his “personal consulting organization”. The number 66,500 illustrates just
how beneficial PFIZERWORKS has been for the company. That’s the number of
work hours estimated to have been saved by employees who have used
PFIZERWORKS. What about David Cain’s experiences? When he gave the Indian
team a complex project researching strategic actions that worked when
consolidating company facilities, the team put the report together in a month,
something that would have taken him six months to do alone. He says, “Pfizer
pays not to do monotonous work but to think and act strategically”.

Questions from the case study

a- Critically analyze what structural implications – good or bad – does this


approach have?
b- Do you think this approach is beneficial and applicable in all types of
organizations?

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